Topic 11- Web 2.0

Select five applications that you have not heard of before from Popular URL's Web 2.0 awards or the webware awards and describe on your blog page how they could be useful to a business.

• Jamlegend emulates console games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band by letting users play the guitar tracks on songs using their QWERTY keyboard. Users can play by themselves or with others, and have their scores tracked on community leaderboards. (webware 2009) Jamlegend.com is useful for a business in the music industry because the website allows any artists to make their music an interactive experience and the service links back to the artist's page/site, or online stores where the track can be purchased. For artists, it is a way to promote their music for free and to develop a fan’s community. 

• Elance is an online hiring and management service. Employers can find people in various disciplines for hire, then use the site to manage their project status, and get in touch (Webware, 2009). This website would be useful to a business thanks to their service they provide. Therefore the website help companies to find someone to hire. It is really benefic for employers in terms of time and money (e.g: training program). The website also allows the business to manage their project status through internet. 

• Mint acts as a financial function system. Mint manages your finances by keeping people up to date on their finances. Mint keeps track of clients spending by sending emails or mobile alerts when ‘bills are due, the clients account drops to a certain level, large purchases paid on credit card or any other high financial transactions’ (Mint, 2009). Thanks to its free online financial management service, Mint would be useful for any companies because it permits to user to stay on track of spending or owing and gives recommendations with its paid advice. By having alerts send emails to the company of money due or transactions this would keep the company more informed. 

• Pidgin is an open-source messaging application that lets you access multiple IM networks from one window, including Google Talk and MySpaceIM as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu” (Webware, 2009). This application could be useful to a business thanks to its convenience to communicate over the internet, that’s means there is no need to create an account on all IM network. Moreover, it is free and the application exists now for mobile phone. 

• Hi5 is a social networking site which has over 60 million users and allows users to create their own profile and upload pictures. This application is similar to Facebook and Myspace which has similar types of functions although Hi5 (Hi5, 2009). This application could be useful for a business because it allows the business to be recognized in another country. Moreover on a social networking sector it is useful to collect database to build up statistics for corporate social responsibilty.